Articles from Vol. 30, No. 2, June

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on 9 March welcomed the signing in Islamabad on 7 March of the Afghan Peace Accord. The comprehensive Accord states that Afghanistan President Burhanuddin Rabbani would remain in office for another 18 months,...

In the face of what UN officials described as a "very bleak" situation in Angola, the security Council on 12 March strongly demanded an immediate cease-fire throughout the country and the resumption without delay or preconditions of a meaningful dialogue...

Improving the social welfare of mankind has seen mixed success in recent years, according to the 1993 Report on the World Social Situation. Prepared every four years by the UN Department of Economic and Social Development, it provides a background...

The UN peace-keeping operation in Cambodia chalked up both successes and disappointments as it entered its second year, completing massive voter registration and repatriation processes despite ongoing cease-fire violations and demobilization problems....

The Security Council on 9 February welcomed with satisfaction El Salvador's request that the UN verify the general elections in that country in March 1994. However, in a statement issued following consultations (S/25257), it expressed concern that...

Ad hoc committees on a nuclear-test ban, prevention of an arms race in outer space, effective international arrangements to assure security for nonnuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, and transparency in armaments...

For centuries, cultural artifacts have been stolen from indigenous people, sold and displayed in violation of their beliefs. Similarly, medicinal plants developed over thousands of years by traditional healers have reaped big earnings in the pharmaceutical...

"Apartheid must be dead and buried by the end of the year", Ibrahim Gambari of Nigeria, Chairman of the Special Committee against Apartheid, said in a 19 March interview with UN Radio. Having visited South Africa as head of a five-member fact-finding...

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on 30 March met jointly in New York with the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities--new Cyprus President Glafkos Clerides and His Excellency Rauf Denktash, respectively--to discuss the...

Although the achievements of the UN in the field of decolonization over the last 30 years are "known and acknowledged the world over", they must not be taken for granted, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali told the Special Committee on the Situation...

A draft declaration on the elimination of violence against women was unanimously approved by the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-seventh session (17-26 March, Vienna). It was among 13 resolutions approved by the 45-member Commission...

The Commission for Social Development has proposed draft standard rules to assist States in equalizing opportunities for people with disabilities. The new rules on disability, to be formally adopted by the General Assembly, would give disabled people...

United Nations interim offices in seven former Soviet republics are facilitating a "practical and effective dialogue" to build the human and institutional capacity required to consolidate an early transition to democracy and a market economy, Secretary-General...

The international community must provide adequate, assured and more timely financial support for the UN, if the organization is to discharge effectively and efficiently the critical demands placed upon it in the post-cold-war world. This was the...

The need for a framework agreement to deal with "hard core" issues that have so far eluded resolution was stressed at the eleventh session (22 March-2 April, Kingston) of the Preparatory Commission for the International Seabed Authority and for the...

The peaceful settlement of disputes and a strengthened UN role in international peace and security were among the issues discussed at the 1993 session of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role...

Adoption of a Programme of Action for the Elimination of the Exploitation of Child Labour was a highlight of the forty-ninth session of the Commission on Human Rights (1 February-12 March, G The new 39-paragraph global plan of action calls for special...

Agreement to deploy a joint United Nations/Organization of American States (OAS) mission to Haiti was announced on 9 February. The new international Civilian Mission is to verify Haiti's respect for human rights, with special emphasis on the right...

The Security Council on 5 February responded to continuous Iraqi challenges to the UN-imposed cease-fire agreement by authorizing an enlarged and militarized UN presence in the region. In adopting resolution 806 (1993), the Council transformed the...

Israel's deportation on 17 December 1992 of more than 400 Palestinians from the occupied territories has been strongly condemned by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. In adopting on 21 January without...

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has stated that elections in Mozambique could not be held in October 1993 as originally scheduled, because many of the timetables established in the peace accord signed in Rome on 4 October 1992 had "proved to...

The Commission on Sustainable Development was formally established on 12 February by the Economic and Social Council. The 53-member body is charged with monitoring progress in implementing "Agenda 21", the comprehensive action programme adopted by...

The bond between indigenous people and their homelands is spiritual, economic and ancestral. The tribe is the communal trustee of the land for living members, as well as for past and future generations, but indigenous people often follow a land-based...

An agenda for action which could dramatically increase the effectiveness of human rights into the next century is expected to be adopted at the upcoming World Conference on Human Rights, which is to convene in Vienna from 14 to 25 June. The gathering...

The bushmen of Botswana, the Ainu of Japan, the Pygmies of central Africa, the Inuits of the Arctic, the Yanomami of Brazil and the Maori of New Zealand may be as different as day and night in their cultures, customs and traditions. But they--and some...

Citing its concern over the "crippling famine and drought in Somalia" compounded by civil strife, the Security Council decided on 26 March to transfer the task of securing humanitarian aid deliveries from a United States-led international force to...

All parties in South Africa should reach agreement on the principles and modalities for the difficult transition ahead, based on "inclusiveness, mutual tolerance and respect", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali stated on 22 March, at a solemn...

Stronger support from UN Member States and international organizations for proposed regional space education centres in developing countries was sought by the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space...

United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has outlined the main challenges and opportunities for the Organization in the twenty-first century. Following are excerpts from his 18 February statement at the inauguration of the new headquarters...

Seated in her colourful, art-filled office across from UN Headquarters in New York, surrounded by the works of world-famous painters and photographers, Annabelle Wiener, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations...

Often called the guardians or caretakers of the earth, indigenous people share a profound attachment to and stewardship of their environment, which encompasses many of the world's most valuable and vulnerable ecosystems, including the Arctic, tundra,...

The Security Council on 2 March invited Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali make preparations for the organization of the referendum of self-determination of the people of Western Sahara and to consult with the parties--Morocco and the Frente Popular...

As the situation in the former Yugoslavia steadily worsened he first three months of 1993, the United Nations supported intensive negotiations to contain and conclude the ethnic conflicts raging throughout the area. UN officials, describing the humanitarian...